Raphael Yair Elnadav - חכם רפאל יאיר אלנדב

Biography (1921-2011)

Raphael
Yair Elnadav was born in Jerusalem to a prominent Yemenite rabbinical
family that had immigrated to Jerusalem around the turn of the 20th
century.As a young man, Hakham
Raphael studied in Yeshivat Porat Yosef in Jerusalem’s Old City.He studied hazzanut under the celebrated Sephardic Hazzan Yaakov
Levi. At the Conservatory Arzi
Israeli in Jerusalem, he received advanced training in voice development, in
violin and in theory and harmony of music. Under
the aegis of Professor Moshe Cordova, he mastered the many maqamat of
Oriental music.Simultaneously,
he continued his Torah learning in Jerusalem’s Yeshivat Shaare Zion under
Chief Rabbi Ben-Zion Uziel. He earnedsemicha
(rabbinical ordination) from Rabbi Eliezer Waldenberg
(1915-2006).

In 1950, Elnadav married Bertha (Batia) Hassoun, and they settled in Tel
Aviv where he was appointed chiefhazanin
Congregation Ohel Moed, the main Sephardic synagogue of Tel Aviv. Their
eldest son, Yosef, was born soon after. By then, he had earned widespread
acclaim in the world ofhazzanutas
a talented innovator, composer and expert in Sephardic liturgy.

He was only 34, but tremendously accomplished – ashohet(ritual
slaughterer),mohel,hazzanand
rabbi – when the life-altering job offer came. An emissary from Cuba’s
Sephardic community arrived in Israel, having been sent for the sole purpose
of offering Rabbi Elnadav the leadership of the community. After months of
negotiation and deliberation, in 1955 Elnadav agreed to take the position in
Havana and served the Cuban community at every level – leading the prayers,
performing marriages, funerals, answering halachic queries and supervisingkashrutin
Cuba, overseeing theshehitaprocess
twice a week.

When
Congregation Shaare Zion on Ocean Parkway in Brooklyn was in its planning
stages, Mr. Isaac Shalom a’h spoke to Rabbi Elnadav and expressed his hope
that the young hazzan would consider a position in the Syrian community once
the Shaare Zion building was complete. In
1959, together with his two children (the youngest, Esther, was born later,
in America) and parents-in-law, he moved to New York and assumed the
position of Chief Cantor, a post he held for 21 years until his retirement
in 1980.

Raphael Tabbush The initials at the beginning of each stanza form the acrostic 'Ani Refael'. The song talks about Israel's redemption. The beginning of the pizmon has the composer turning to God to ask for mercy. The composer says that he will not stop praying until his prayers are accepted. He prays for the redemption of the Jewish people, the gathering of the exile, and returning to the Land of Israel. Tabbush Manuscript